Exploring new ways of seeing, new ways of being with an open heart and an open mind

Friday, April 27, 2012

Followed by a Jackson Pollock Morning

A few evenings ago, I was taken by surprise at the sound of seagulls flying overhead. I've seen them congregating in parking lots where they expect to find fast food flung out of car windows, and they're usually found on larger lakes in the area throughout the summer, but I wasn't expecting to see flocks of them flying over Lonewolf in late April.

To enhance the scene, they were flying against the backdrop of a waxing crescent moon, lit by the sun still sinking in the west. Off the moon's shoulder sat Venus, like a lantern suspended by thick twilight. The sound and the scene kept me standing there for several minutes. It was a really beautiful sight. I thought about my favorite seagull of all, Jonathan Livingston. He taught me valuable lessons way back in the '70's, lessons that have stayed with me and continue to serve me well.

The next morning, as I was leaving to have lunch with a friend, I found my blue car covered in white splotches of seagull poop. It looked like Jackson Pollock had paid a visit. I almost felt avant garde as I drove the ten miles to the nearest car wash. Almost.

Teresa -- great post. Loved the ending and the intertwining symbolism of Pollock and Poop.Made me chuckle. You certainly were a good sport about it all. Jonathon Livingston, ahh there is a great book full of symbolism -- it has been a long time since I read it -- time to read it again. -- barbara

I had very little time to spare before the lunch time. Good thing the car wash was on the way. I still have my original copy and was thinking the same thing, maybe time to re-read just for a refresher course.

U of Iowa found a Pollock and were shocked when they realized the worth, a donated piece.I had a MN friend we called Chicken Jack who painted similar and always wondered what the next buyer of his home thought of his paint flinging room.

We have those very large poopy guys flying over OUR cars too. Sometimes I am amazed that they actually seemed to be targeting them. Thank goodness for car washes. Of course, here we get so much rain the poop doesn't stand a chance of lasting long in any event. :-)

Somewhere around here amongst my piles of books sits ol' Jonathan Livingston Seagull. I should find him, dust him off, and read it again. Gosh, it was so long ago and feels like yesterday.

Anyways, thanks for the post. We have a robin safely nesting right above the back door. I love looking out, slowly opening and shutting the storm door to go in and out and not disturb the nesting mother, but I don't appreciate the Pollock paintings left on the window. oh well.

I never really understood the appeal of Jackson Pollack or a lot of modern art, for that matter. Maybe it's the staggering amounts of money people pay for them that boggles my mind even more so.

I have to admit that when I read Jonathan Livingston Seagull all those years ago, to me it seemed like a children's book for adults. Simple, good, positive message, though. It was popular beyond belief! So a lot of people needed to hear it, I guess.

That sounds like a beautiful scene with the gulls against the sky, but your car paid the price--LOL! I love all kinds of birds, but they are a messy lot. ;)

I have difficulty understanding the huge amount of money paid for art, particularly that which is often described as cutting edge. It becomes a game of who can win the bidding wars.

re: Jonathan: I think back in the '70's people were hungry for these ideas and for many they were new. The most profound ideas are the most simple, I believe, and shouldn't be difficult for people to understand, Aren't difficult when we Listen. I've always loved children's books....

As far as birds being a "messy lot," so are humans. Now if we could just learn to stop shitting in our own nest....

Nancy, I love being able to see these parallels. This one was irresistible. I was meeting a friend for lunch at the Black Bear Lodge in Brainerd, and thought my friend might think I'd lost my mind if I drove into the parking lot that way, although it was tempting. :)

Hello Teresa! I love Jackson Pollock You can imagine thousands of things in his paintings...

I live upon a hilly site of town where the seagulls fly across from their overnight place down by the harbour and out to their places in the countryside, maybe far away - and then they return in the evening, almost at the same time, dependent on time of year and dusk, but they fly high and their shit might be changed into dust before it hits me! But I like the sight of all those seagulls high up in the sky, and they come in various flocks, one after the other until no more and it's growing dark and everything is growing silent. Their screams are now far away. It brings a special peace of mind on an evening with a sky like glass and the rests of the purple sunset clouds.

I'll break the illusions. I don't like the large seagulls too close to me though!

First I would like to say that your righting is exquisite. "Off the moon's shoulder sat Venus, like a lantern suspended by thick twilight." Brilliant.

Secondly I would like to say that likening your spotted car to a Jackson Pollock painting had me smiling and thinking about a car I had seen on my way to work the other day. I had been approaching a dark BMW splattered with pink, and I thought, what happened to that car? On closer inspection it was covered with petals, Cherry Blossom, I don't know, but it was so pretty. I remembered what a gift it must have been to discover that ride awaiting in the morning. Such a sweet surprise and maybe a wee bit better than sea gull poop.

Nice piece of writing here, and I loved that Jackson Pollack came to mind when viewing your automobile. I actually love Pollack, his paintings were raw and inspirational.

Sea gulls are a real rarity in these parts but once during a huge storm we had a mess of them that got blown off course and landed (by the hundreds) in an old pasture near out house. They looked completely confused and after the weather brightened headed directly east towards the Atlantic Ocean. Just another day in the life of a seagull I suppose.

HI Bill, How is spring coming along in your corner of New England? Don't you love that some sort of communication goes on that tells them when to try again and the direction is apparent to them? Perhaps if we humans got still long enough and returned to listening better, our own communication would be vastly improved.

I love abstract work, as it allows us to enter it without preconceived notions and then create our own emotional narrative within it. Thanks for your comments. I appreciate the encouraging words.

Dee, Lonewolf is not a location so much as a state of mind and the name I gave to my land here in north central Minnesota after seeing it highlighted in a vision/dream. I was reluctant, despite the sense that the dream was giving me the name, because the Hopi say "The time of the lone wolf is over, gather yourselves..." But in the dream it was one word, highlighted, so I agreed that it should be the name. I have been described by friends as a "lone wolf," and perhaps so, but I also am attempting to create a greater sense of community here and expand my notion of what that means.

The roof would have been less noticeable, but the entire car was just a bit more than I was comfortable with as I was meeting a friend for lunch. A moving work of art! :)

Hello Teresa , was searching for pollock in google and this came I was amazed first thought there were real paintings, they would be amazing !I'm working in new paintings and love Pollock , if you were willing to print those photos for me I would create paintings looking similar, would be great !Thanks for you post

Joso, Yes, these images are not photographs of my car, but images of actual Pollock paintings I used to illustrate. I always leave a note at the bottom of my posts, as I did here. Usually they are my photos, but occasionally I use images of paintings and such I found on the internet.